I have started playing live and I think I would like to add a Compression Pedal to my board.

I tried out the Keeley Compressor, BOSS CS-3, and the MXR M-132 all on the same amp. Personally I thought the BOSS gave the most sustain on it and for like half the price of the Keeley if im not mistaken.

So which one do you prefer or if another please state.

And for the poll

Are compressors that important when playing live?

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blackened death metal...? how many more metal sub-genres are people gonna come up with?

anyway. Compressors are pretty useful live, but it depends on your style and position in the band. most country players have compressors. compressors are pretty essential in most country music rigs. brad paisley for example uses the Keeley.

as far as your "blackened death metal" goes...if you're playing mostly rythm and drop d or c or b chords or whatever then you wont have much use for a compressor. Now if you're the lead player and do a lot of solos and what not then a compressor could be very useful to you. Your solos will be a bit clearer. things like tapping and other legato techniques will be easier to hear.

most compressors will add some noise to your sound, though. so now you'll most likely need a noise gate as well. If you werent using a high gain amp and playing metal then it wouldnt be that much of a problem, but since you're gonna be crankin the gain pretty good I imagine you'll have a lot of nosie from the get go and a compressor will add even more to that noise. Its never a bad idea to get a noise gate anyway, they're really handy. These are just things to consider when buying a compressor. Anyway, my vote goes to the Visual Sound Comp66. $100, fairly noiselss, built like a tank

don't buy a compressor for your Fender if you're going to be buying up anyways. play the new amp you're going to be using, then buy a compressor that sounds good on it. My TS9 sounds really nice on my Rebel, but sounds really bad on a Spider.

for playing music as heavey as you play, then there is pretty much no use for a compression pedal. your signal is already about as compressed as it can be with all the gain your pushing through your preamp. they only use for it would be if you ever played cleans in some songs, which im guessing isnt much.